


Defeating the Fire Lord

by BaronVonChop



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Polyhedral Dice, The Gaang's kids pretending to be the gaang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 12:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaronVonChop/pseuds/BaronVonChop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sokka must find a way to keep the kids (Kya, Bumi, Tenzin, and Lin) out of trouble while staying at Fire Lord Zuko's palace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defeating the Fire Lord

**Author's Note:**

> I'm new to the site, so if you have any suggestions for me, let me know!

“Guys! Come over here! This is important!”

It was a warm spring afternoon, and Lin and her friends Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin were visiting the Fire Lord’s palace. Lin’s face was completely serious, but the others could sense that there was mischief in the air. Despite being the youngest in the group, Lin would not hesitate to take charge at playtime, and today looked to be no exception. The three siblings stood around Lin in a semicircle as the young Beifong filled them in.

“Okay, so the Fire Nation is trying to take over the world, and they’re sending out their armies to lay waste to everything in their path.” She swept her arm forward like the vanguard of an advancing army, enjoying the attention.

Tenzin nodded, knitting his eyebrows, while Kya and Bumi elbowed each other and smiled. They could tell this was going to be good.

Lin shot Kya and Bumi a withering glare until the older children fell silent. Determined to impart the seriousness of her scenario, Lin turned the theatrics up a notch. With a few stomps, she created a map of the world between the kids.

“The Fire Nation already has footholds in the Earth Kingdom, and they’ve sent out their fleets to invade the North and South poles.” The continents crumbled to indicate the advancing armies. Kya and Bumi were impressed at the show, but struggled to keep serious looks on their faces as Lin gave them a warning glance.

“What about the Air Nomads?” asked Tenzin.

Lin rolled her eyes and sighed. “The Air Nomads were wiped out a century ago, of course. The only one that’s left is the Avatar, and it’s up to him to save the world!”

Bumi put his hands on his hips and thrust out his chest. “Along with his brave companions!”

Lin nodded appreciatively. “Now you’ve got the right idea! So, are you with me?”

Kya and Bumi raised their fists in the air. “We’re with you! Down with the Fire Lord!”

Sokka, who was supposed to be keeping an eye on the kids, looked up from the scroll he was reading nearby. “Hey, keep it down, will you? Less plans of overthrowing the government, more background hubbub of happy children at play.”

“Yes, Uncle Sokka,” chorused the group.

Lin turned to Tenzin. “We can’t take down the Fire Lord without the Avatar.”

Tenzin closed his eyes and exhaled. “Okay, I’ll be Aang. But let’s not get carried away. We don’t want to get in trouble, right, you guys? …you guys?”

But the others were already running off. Lin was stomping up earth-lumps that represented Fire Nation soldiers, and the three of them were smashing through the lumps with abandon. They called out battle cries in character as Toph, Katara, and Sokka -- though these versions of Team Avatar were somewhat more bloodthirsty than the originals. Tenzin hurried to keep up.

* * *

Ten minutes later:

“I’m not so sure about this,” Tenzin whispered.

The four kids were huddled outside the door of Fire Lord Zuko’s study. Inside, Zuko was going over a stack of reports. The air in the palace felt heavy, so Zuko had his window open.

“After having come so far, the Avatar hesitates in the moment before final battle!” announced Lin in a whisper.

Kya laughed quietly. “It’s all up to you now, Avatar Aang!”

“Keep it down, you guys. We’re going to get in trouble,” Tenzin peeked into the room to see if Zuko had heard, but the Fire Lord was still going over the papers, organizing them in neat stacks and jotting down responses and notes.

With a wink to Kya and Lin, Bumi suddenly gave his brother a shove and Tenzin stumbled into the room. Zuko looked up, confused.

* * *

Outside, Sokka was walking the perimeter of the palace, wondering where the kids had gotten to. Up ahead, he saw a storm of papers go rushing out of an open window. He quickened his pace and looked in the window to see Zuko staring in shock at Tenzin.

Tenzin looked like he was on the verge of tears and afraid to move, so he was still holding the airbending stance. “I’m so, so sorry, Fire Lord Zuko, sir.” The last few airborne reports settled to the ground.

After the shock wore off, Zuko exhaled slowly and said, “I’m sure there’s a good explanation. Why don’t you tell me what it is as you help me gather up these papers?”

Sokka climbed through the window, saying, “I think I see what happened here.” There was an urgent shuffling from outside the room as three sets of feet started backing up, but Sokka called out, “Kya, Bumi, Lin, why don’t you come in here and apologize to the Fire Lord?”

The three kids trooped inside. They kept their heads bowed respectfully, and mumbled, “We’re sorry, Fire Lord Zuko.” Though they kept their heads down, they raised their eyes to glance about appreciatively at the state of the room.

Sokka folded his arms. “We’re sorry, Fire Lord Zuko, and...?”

Kya and Bumi were at a loss, but Lin had a thought. “And we’ll help pick up the papers and fix the mess Tenzin made?”

Sokka raised an eyebrow.

“The mess we made,” said Lin quickly.

“Not bad,” said Sokka. “Come on, I’ll give you a boost through the window.” In a few moments, all four kids were outside, collecting the reports and chasing the ones the wind caught.

After a few moments, Sokka turned to Zuko. “They’re good kids. Did you see that boomerang Bumi made out of a coat hanger? You can tell he takes after his uncle.”

“Still, wasn’t it your job to watch them today?” asked Zuko. He was smiling, but something about the smile made Sokka take a small step back.

“They’re kids! And you have to admit, it’s pretty cute the way they pretend they’re Team Avatar. Except I guess they’re always taking down the Fire Lord, which is a little awkward since he’s your dad.” He realized he should have stopped talking but couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Except for when they’re pretending to be fighting the hot-headed Prince Zuko, of course.”

Zuko glowered, for a moment, then shrugged. “So maybe you can think of a way for them to stop Fire Lord Ozai without interrupting Fire Lord Zuko?”

Sokka put his hand to his chin in a familiar gesture. “There may be something. I’ve been thinking about how dice always have six sides because they have square faces, but if you change the shape of the face, you can change the number of sides.”

A quartet of voices from the window drew Zuko’s attention for a moment and he turned to accept the first delivery of slightly rumpled papers. When he turned back to Sokka, Zuko said, “I don’t know what that has to do with anything, but if it keeps them busy and lets me finish these reports, I don’t care how many sides the dice have.”

* * *

Three hours later:

Katara and Aang walked in on Sokka sitting at the head of a table scattered with hand-carved figures and dice, papers, pencils, and snacks, with the four kids sitting around the table, all talking at once.

“Can I use waterbending to create a plant monster around me?” demanded Kya.

Sokka, who was wearing his “Wang Fire” beard, stroked the beard and thought for a moment. “You’ll have to take the swampbender skill to do that,” he said. “Keep that in mind the next time you level up.”

“Do I have any stink bombs left?” asked Bumi.

“Just one,” replied Sokka solemnly, “You used your others up on the sandbenders.”

Lin interjected, “I drop the ceiling on the guardian. Does it hit Aang? Hey, Tenzin, how many hit points do you have left?”

Sokka handed Tenzin two sheets of paper. “Aang could try to either jump out of the way, or earthbend the ceiling as it fell to keep it from hurting him.”

Tenzin looked at the sheets of paper, too overwhelmed to take in the charts Sokka had scrawled on them. “Um, do I roll airbending to jump out of the way, or my Reflex score?”

Katara and Aang watched for a few minutes as this continued. It seemed like all four kids were talking at once, rolling dice, writing things down, and moving around tokens on the table. Sokka sat tall at the head of the table, answering questions, making rulings, and describing what happened next.

Aang was not sure what to make of the scene. “So, who dropped a ceiling on my head?”

Lin raised her hand. “That was me!”

Aang smiled. “Well, I hope you’re not too busy with that to come to dinner. Your food’s going to get cold.”

“We’ve been looking all over for you,” said Katara. She looked at Sokka and indicated the table. “I hope they haven’t ruined their appetites.”

“Snacks are an important part of the game,” said Sokka. “I’ve decided that just now,” he added.

Katara leaned over the table and inspected the pieces. “Well, I see Aang,” she said, pointing to the figure. “It looks like he’s fighting a little, stuffed platypus bear?”

“That’s Wan Shi Tong, the library’s guardian,” said Tenzin. “We didn’t have a figure for it.”

“And you’re fighting it?” asked Aang in surprise.

“It wasn’t my idea,” said Tenzin in a small voice.

Sokka elaborated. “The kids have decided that the easiest way to solve every problem is to fight it. I’m surprised we didn’t think of that.”

Before Aang could get worried, Katara pointed to another piece. “And who’s this brutish warrior?”

“That’s my character!” said Bumi. “I’m playing Sokka.”

Katara glanced at Sokka, who blushed behind his beard. She laughed again. “Well, I can guess who carved the pieces. But I can’t tell what this horrible machine is.” She indicated a frightening collection of toothpicks and paperclips wrapped around a smaller figure.

“That’s me!” declared Lin proudly. “I mean, that’s Toph. She’s learned how to use her metalbending to surround herself with weapons and armor. Want to see a list of the abilities she’s got?” Lin held up a small stack of papers covered in many layers of cryptic scrawling.

Katara took the top paper and looked at it, then turned it sideways and squinted. “I’m not sure I can make this out. Does that say ‘Pincers of Crushing?’ Sounds very... creative.”

“Who are you playing, Kya?” asked Aang, turning to his oldest child. “I don’t see a figure on the board for you. Don’t you normally play Katara?”

Kya frowned. “Yeah, but right now Katara is in the Spirit World.” She pointed to a square tile on the table. “That’s where she was when Koh the Face Stealer grabbed her.”

“I’ve been taken to the Spirit World by Koh?” gasped Katara. She grabbed a nearby chair and yanked it over to the table, pushing aside papers to make room for herself. “No way I’m letting that monster take my face!”

Sokka grinned and produced a sheet of paper, laying it in front of Katara. “Looks like Prince Zuko has joined the fight!”

Katara blinked at the paper. “I can’t play as me?”

Kya folded her arms and shook her head. “Nope. I’m Katara.”

Katara shrugged. “Well, I guess having a firebender will be helpful in overthrowing the Firelord. Okay, so what are the rules?”

“You can do whatever you like,” explained Sokka, “and this sheet shows you how good you are at things.”

“I can show you which dice to roll until you get the hang of it,” offered Tenzin.

“But first,” said Sokka with great gravity, “you must tell us what Zuko says as he charges into battle!”

Katara raised both fists into the air. “MY HONOOOOOOOOR!” she yelled, earning whoops of delight and laughter from everyone at the table.

Aang smiled and shook his head. “Looks like I’d better go help the servants start bringing the food in here.”

“Better hurry,” said Sokka. “Once Team Avatar defeats the Wan Shi Tong and saves Katara from Koh, they’ll need Suki’s help to face what’s next!”


End file.
